REPORT OF INTERROGATION OF

SURVIVORS OF U-701, SUNK BY

U. S. ARMY ATTACK BOMBER ON JULY 7, 1942

September 17, 1942

SECRET

Chapter I	INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Chapter II	CREW OF U-701
Chapter III	EARLY HISTORY AND TRIALS OF U-701
Chapter IV	FIRST WAR CRUISE
Chapter V	SECOND WAR CRUISE
Chapter VI	THIRD AND LAST WAR CRUISE
Chapter VII	SINKING OF U-701
Chapter VIII	DETAILS OF U-701
Chapter IX	OTHER U-BOATS
Chapter X	U-BOAT TACTICS AND STRATEGY
Chapter XI	GENERAL REMARKS ON U-BOATS
Chapter XII	U-BOAT YARDS
Chapter XIII	U-BOAT BASES
Chapter XIV	U-BOAT TRAINING
Chapter XV	U-BOAT FLOTILLAS
Chapter XVI	MINEFIELDS
Chapter XVII	MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS
ANNEXES
A	LIST OF THE CREW OF U-701
B	DEGEN'S ACCOUNT OF SINKING AND RESCUE

Chapter I

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

        U-701 was sunk on July 7, 1942 at approximately 1512 EWT by U.S.Army attack bomber No. 9-29-392, Unit 296 B.S., about 30 miles off Cape Hatteras.

        The interrogation of the seven survivors was begun within three hours after they had been picked up from the sea.  They had been in the water approximately 49 hours when rescued by a Coast Guard plane.  Survivors were covered with oil and badly burned by the sun.  It is likely that sunburn might have been even more severe had it not been for the coating of oil in the men's shoulders and arms.  While it was evident that the men had been instructed in security, their condition undoubtedly weakened their resistance to questioning.  As the men recovered, their defences against interrogation stiffened.

        No documentary evidence of any kind was recovered.  The seven survivors among them had four pairs of swimming trunks, two escape lungs and one rubber life jacket.  Had it not been for the prompt interrogation of the men, it is doubtful that a satisfactory result could have been obtained.

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Chapter II

CREW OF U-701

        The crew of U-701 consisted of four officers, a midshipman and 38 men.  A fifth officer, Leutnant z. See (Ensign) WEINITSCHKE, left the boat at Kiel after the completion of trials in December, 1941.  The seven survivors included the captain and the quartermaster.

        The captain, Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant) Horst DEGEN is 29 years old and belongs to the naval class of 1933, in company with a number of Germany's most successful U-boat commanders.  He is a qualified torpedo and radio officer.  Unmarried and an orphan, he has two married sisters and lives in Hamburg.

        As a naval cadet, he made a round-the-world voyage in 1934 aboard the cruiser KARLSRUHE, and enjoys reminiscing over the hospitality accorded him and his companions in Australia, The Indies, Hawaii, San Diego and Boston.  He served in destroyers prior to the outbreak of war, and participated in the Norwegian campaign aboard the HANS LODY.  DEGEN stated that his destroyer was in the vicinity when SCHARNHORST sank H.M.S. GLORIOUS on June 8, 1940.  Shortly thereafter he transferred to the U-boat arm and underwent instruction as a "Kommandantenschüler" at Kiel.  He made one cruise with Kapitänleutnant Erich TOPP in U-552 as "commander pupil", leaving St. Nazaire on April 7, 1941.

        Upon returning from this cruise on May 6, 1941 DEGEN left St. Nazaire at once and proceeded to Hamburg to stand by U-701 in the final phases of her construction.

        DEGEN has profound admiration for TOPP's capacity as a U-boat commander.  DEGEN says that TOPP, although a year his junior, "taught me all I know".  TOPP's

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example produced in DEGEN a daring and recklessness which are the peculiar attributes of the more successful U-boat commanders, and a philosophy of combat which insists on retention of the offensive, admitting little evasive action.

        DEGEN's brief record of accomplishment as commander of U-701, while not particularly outstanding in terms of tonnage accounted for, is characterized, nevertheless, by the boldness of his attacks, carried out for the most part in broad daylight and in the face of vigorous opposition from escort vessels and protecting aircraft.

        DEGEN is a loyal German officer but is in no sense an ardent Nazi.  He has expressed grave misgivings over the eventual outcome of the war, in view of America's vast reserves of men and material, and considers that Germany made a costly mistake in provoking American entrance into the conflict.  From time to time he has made disparaging remarks about one or another of the Party leaders, and has condemned emphatically such Nazi measures as the stifling of civil liberties and the persecution of the Jews.  He has also expressed indignation at the unfair award of "comfortable" shore jobs to naval officers through nepotism and by discrimination.

        DEGEN is an unusually exuberant type; he is endowed with a quick wit, is given to strong likes and dislikes, and has a great capacity for uninhibited companionship.  He owes his life to the devotion with which he had inspired in his crew, as he was often unconscious during the 49 hours the seven survivors spent in the water following the sinking and was actually supported for long periods by his companions, notably the stalwart quartermaster, KUNERT.  In internment, DEGEN has often spoken with affection of his men.  He was distressed that so few survived, and divulged the ironical fact that 12 husbands or fathers went down

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with the boat, whereas all seven survivors are bachelors.

        Little is known of the three officers who perished.  Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant (j.g.)) Konrad JUNKER, the executive officer, was of the 1935 naval class, as was the engineer officer, Oberleutnant (Ing.) Karl-Heinrich BAHR.  Leutnant zur See (Ensign) BAZIES does not appear in the 1940 German Navy List, and was a reserve officer from the merchant marine.  U-701 also carried a midshipman engineer, Fähnrich (Ing.) LANGE.  LANGE is stated to have been drowned in an attempt to swim ashore.

        The quartermaster, Günter KUNERT, age 28, served in U-701 as navigator.  He was an experienced seaman, having spent some years in the merchant marine and in sailing ships.  DEGEN considered him an exceptionally reliable navigator, trusted him implicitly, and once referred to him as "my best friend".  According to another prisoner, KUNERT had served in another U-boat under a commander named SCHULTZE (ONI Note:  This might be either Herbert SCHULTZE, former commander of U-48 and during the latter part of 1941 chief of the 3rd Flotilla based on La Pallice, or Wolfgang SCHULTZE, now believed to be in command of U-432),  and had once been depth-charged continuously for 15 hours.  Powerfully built, KUNERT had the strength to keep his captain afloat for hours after the sinking of U-701 and to emerge from the ordeal, himself, little the worse for wear.

        The remaining survivors, with one exception, were fairly security-minded, but not to the degree generally encountered.  DEGEN had probably admonished his crew not to divulge matters of military importance, but a number of factors - his own garrulousness, his independent interpretation of security, the swiftness of the sinking, and the prompt preliminary interrogation - contributed to weaken the resistance of the survivors to incisive questioning.

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Chapter III

EARLY HISTORY AND TRIALS OF U-701

        U-701 was the first of a series of 500-ton U-boats, Type VII C, assigned to the Stülkenwerft, Hamburg.  Prisoners stated that some of the blueprints were provided by Blohm and Voss Yards at Hamburg, and others by the Germania Werft at Kiel.  A great many difficulties were encountered in the construction.  Prisoners stated that among other things the U-boat was incorrectly wired electrically and that the air and oil line systems were not properly fitted and connected.

        U-701 was commissioned on July 16, 1941.  Dates of the keel laying and launching could not be learned.  There is reason to believe, however, that the boat, the first to be built by Stülkenwerft, was under construction an unusually long time, probably more than a year.  Thus she may have been laid down in the early spring of 1940.

        The crew was called to Hamburg to watch the final phases of construction and fitting out (Baubelehrung) from March to July 1941.  She probably was launched in April.  After she finally was commissioned on July 16, she proceeded to Kiel by way of the Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal for her trials under the U-boat Acceptance Commission, the U.A.K., (U-Bootsabnahmekommission).

        Trials in the Baltic quickly revealed U-701's faulty construction.  After stopping at Gotenhafen (formerly Gdynia), the U-boat put into Danzig for adjustments at the Danzigerwerft.  Apparently the necessary alterations could not be made at Danzig, for the U.A.K. ordered her back to the Stülkenwerft for a more thorough overhaul.  She returned by way of Kiel and the Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal, arriving at the end of August, six weeks after her commissioning.

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U-701 remained at the Stülkenwerft about six weeks, during which time at least some of the original errors were rectified.

        U-701 began her second series of trials in the Baltic under the U.A.K. early in October.  During the following month she made repeated cruises from Kiel.  Artillery firing practice was carried out in the middle of the Baltic with a moving target.  She spent from 1 1/2 to 3 weeks at Warnemünde for torpedo practice.

        DEGEN stated that the tactical exercises of U-701 were carried out in company with nine other boats.  These boats were commanded by BORCHERDT, WATTENBERG, BERGER, CREMER, KÖLLE, GIESSLER, STRELOW, KRÖNING, and VOGEL.  The ramming of RATSCH by REICHMANN during tactical exercises also took place about the same time, DEGEN said.  (October and early November, 1941)  In reality this latter incident is believed to have occurred on November 29, 1941.  (See Chapter IX, OTHER U-BOATS, for all these names.)

        In mid-November U-701 returned to Stülkenwerft for her final overhaul before starting her first war cruise.  She is believed to have left Hamburg on or about December 20, 1941.  She proceeded once more through the Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal to Kiel where she completed with fuel and took on torpedoes.  Her complement during this period was five officers and forty men.  Leutnant zur See (Ensign) WEINITSCHKE now left the boat at Kiel.

        U-701 was attached to the 3rd Flotilla based on La Pallice.

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Chapter IV

FIRST WAR CRUISE

        U-701 left Kiel for her first war cruise December 27, 1941.  She proceeded through the Kattegat and the North Sea to her operational area in the northwest approaches to England.  Prisoners were emphatic in their statements that they did not put into a Norwegian port as many U-boats do on their first cruise.  DEGEN took his boat southward between Iceland and the Faeroes.  He stated that he skirted a comparatively shallow area - 150 to 300 feet - known to the Germans as the "Rosengarten" (Rose Garden), located at latitude 63⁰ 30' N and longitude 11⁰ 30' W.  He said Germans suspected it to be mined.  He stated that he made this passage by day on the surface and was astonished at the large number of drifting mines, as many as 20 to 30 in one day, which he saw there.

        U-701's sole success on this cruise was the sinking of an unescorted 3,000 to 4,000 ton freighter off Rockall.  The attack occurred in daylight hours in mid-January.  DEGEN fired two electric torpedoes both of which hit.  U-701 drew over to the life boats and asked the crew the name of the vessel which they refused to give.  DEGEN said shortly thereafter a gale arose, causing him to fear that these survivors perished.  DEGEN believed that his victim was a vessel of the Baron class.  (ONI Note:  British sources suggest that this freighter may have been the BARON ERSKINE, sunk in the Rockall area, without trace, at about this time, the exact date and position being unknown.)  DEGEN stated that one time he passed within 100 meters of the Rockall rocks.

        U-701 was recalled to St. Nazaire after about five weeks at sea.  She arrived at St. Nazaire early in February, 1942.

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Chapter V

SECOND WAR CRUISE

        Prisoners stated that U-701 left St. Nazaire on her second war cruise at the beginning of March and proceeded to an operational area off Iceland.  DEGEN claims he sank four armed trawlers on four successive days with one electric torpedo each.  Some, if not all, of these attacks were made in daylight.  (ONI Note:  British sources state that actually only two trawlers were lost in this area at this time.  They were H.M.T. NOTTS COUNTY, sunk at 63⁰ 10' N - 13⁰ 16' W at 2350 on March 8, and H.M.T. STELLA CAPELLA, which left Seidisfjord about March 8 and was lost without trace.  In addition, HENGIST, a fish carrier, was torpedoed in position 59⁰ 34' N - 10⁰ 8' W between March 8 - 10.  H.M.T. ANGLE also may have been attacked unsuccessfully in this period.)

        DEGEN stated that he approached so close to Iceland that he easily could see snow-clad cliffs.  He said he noted a large number of biplane-seaplanes which he judged to be of such an old model that they could not have been on U-boat patrol.

        U-701 encountered two weeks of heavy weather which, DEGEN said, prevented him from attacking a number of ships which he sighted.  On the trip back to port, he said, his echo-sounding device failed during a stretch of foggy weather, but his quartermaster brought the U-boat safely back to the French coast.

        Prisoners stated that they were instructed to return to Brest instead of St. Nazaire.  The reason, they said, was that St. Nazaire was over-crowded with U-boats.  However, the possibility should be considered that the British commando raid of March 27, 1942 on St. Nazaire made the U-boat base at least partially unserviceable.

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        U-701 put into Brest April 15.  She docked in a U-boat shelter for overhaul.  At least part of the crew were granted leave following this cruise.

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Chapter VI

THRID AND LAST WAR CRUISE

        U-701 left Brest on her third and last war cruise May 19, 1942.  She had been in dock nearly five weeks and three new men had joined the crew.  A band played her from the quayside.  For several hours she was escorted by two patrol vessels and two Messerschmitt fighters.

        She proceeded down the coast and put in at Lorient where she lay alongside a tanker and completed with fuel oil.  Prisoners stated that it had become a customary  procedure for U-boats stationed at Brest to fuel up at Lorient, which suggests that fueling arrangements for U-boats at Brest are inadequate.  One prisoner stated that there were two or three other U-boats in Lorient at the time.

        U-701 left Lorient the following day, May 20, carrying the usual supply of twelve electric and two air torpedoes.  Prisoners insisted she carried no mines and flatly denied that they had any civilians or intended saboteurs aboard.  U-701 left in the company of another U-boat.

        The crossing to the American coast required twenty-two days.  The slow time was due to a number of factors, namely, keeping the engines at slow speed (langsame Fahrt) to conserve fuel, heavy weather, and brief pursuits of two eastbound steamers.

        Several days out, approximately on a line between the Azores and Newfoundland, U-701 passed and exchanged signals with a three-masted Portuguese sailing ship, the GAZELLA PRIMERA, bound for the Newfoundland Banks to fish.

        Prisoners stated that they passed two U-boats during the Atlantic crossing.  When well across the Atlantic, DEGEN sighted an east-bound passenger

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liner which turned out to be the DROTTNINGHOLM, the Swedish liner carrying Axis diplomats from New York to Portugal.  Not recognizing her at first, DEGEN put about and stalked her for half a day.  He had been advised previously that the DROTTNINGHOLM would be at sea, but DEGEN said according to his calculation she was off her course.  Actually, DEGEN, who had been unable to fix his position for several days owing to heavy clouds, was himself off course.  Finally, he received another radio message that the DROTTNINGHOLM had left New York June 3 and was to be allowed to pass.  DEGEN then appeared quite near and recognized the Swedish flag and could read the word "Diplomat" on her side.  The net result of this episode was the loss of a day and a half's westing.

        Shortly after this U-701 sighted an eastbound British liner of about 15,000 tons.  Once more he put about and gave chase.  DEGEN said the liner was steering a general course of 60 degrees, deviating in a regular zigzag course to 90 degrees and then to 30 degrees.  As the liner proved too fast for him, he abandoned the pursuit, again losing a day and a half.

        Much of the crossing, apparently was made on the surface, as survivors spoke of frequent sun baths.  On approaching the United States coast, however, DEGEN became more cautious and remained submerged most of the time.

        U-701 arrived over the Atlantic Shelf on June 11, 1942.  DEGEN was reluctant to make his first landfall on the United States coast with a new moon, which he remembered was June 13.  He said it was "bad for business".  He therefore decided to lie over the Shelf for a few days.  The next day, June 12, he was attacked by an aircraft of the type which later sank him.  He had just time to crash dive.  He stated that five bombs straddled the U-boat when she was at about forty feet.  His lights failed and instrument glasses were smashed in the control room, but the damage was slight and quickly repaired.

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        U-701 moved into coastal waters about June 16.  Her operational area was from 15 miles south of Cape Lookout, on the south, to Chesapeake Light on the north.  Prisoners said they made landfall on a small lightship.

        U-701's first encounter occurred on or about June 16.  She sighted a southbound 8,000 ton freighter which she followed before firing two electric torpedoes, both of which missed.  The freighter escaped.

        On the night of June 17, U-701 surfaced off Cape Hatteras close to a U-boat chaser which challenged her with a series of B's from a signal lamp  Thinking he was going to be rammed, DEGEN put about and drew away, without answering the challenge.  The following day he saw what he thought was the same cutter escorting a tanker and a freighter in line ahead.  DEGEN believed the cutter had made contact with him in passing, for as soon as the convoyed ships were out of range, the cutter returned and dropped depth charges near U-701.  DEGEN said that on this occasion he did not hear the "ping" of Asdic.

        The next night, June 19, U-701 surfaced off Cape Hatteras and again sighted what DEGEN took to be the same cutter.  He opened fire with his 8.8 cm gun to which the cutter replied with machine gun fire.  U-701 expended a large number of shells.  Apparently the gun crew, groping over-anxiously in the dark, seized every available shell in the ready-use lockers without discrimination.  Thus, fire was an unorthodox mixture of SAP, HE and incendiary shell, but it sank the cutter.  Prisoners considered this a wasteful and "untidy" piece of work, and the captain gave the impression that he was ashamed of it.

        DEGEN said he approached to look for survivors with the intention of putting them ashore, but he found none.  He said he thought the crew made off in a boat.  Prisoners gave the position of the attack as near the Diamond Shoals Lightship Buoy.  (ONI Note:  This cutter in all probability was YP 389, which was

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sunk five to eight miles northeast of Buoy #4 at 0415 on June 19 under circumstances which coincide with the German account.  A faulty firing spring prevented YP 389 from using her 3-inch gun.)

        A few days after this sinking, U-701 sighted a convoy which she was unable to intercept.  On June 27, at periscope depth, U-701 sighted another convoy southbound in daylight.  DEGEN singled out a medium-sized tanker in ballast and fired two electric torpedoes.  He made one hit aft which started a fire, possibly of fuel oil.  It was not known aboard the U-boat whether a second hit had been made, although the men heard a second explosion some minutes after the first.  U-701 dived immediately and was attacked by destroyers.  One prisoner said he heard the "ping" of the searching gear.  Soon afterward depth charges were dropped nearby.  The electric motors were put out of commission temporarily and the glass of gauges in the conning tower was broken.  No damage was sustained, however, which could not be rapidly repaired.  (ONI Note:  BRITISH FREEDOM, a 6,985 ton tanker, was attacked and damaged by one torpedo while in convoy in position 34⁰ 45' N - 75⁰ 22' W. at 1107 on June 27, 1942.  She was able to return to Norfolk under her own power.)

        During the night following this attack two air torpedoes carried in upper deck containers were transferred into the boat.  (See Chapter VIII)

        The next day, June 28, DEGEN stated that he attacked a large tanker traveling with air escort.  He fired one electric torpedo as a "Fangschuss", or crippling shot, which set the tanker on fire.  DEGEN then dived, and U-701 was subjected to a counter-attack by aircraft, the bomb and depth charge explosions being heard some distance away.  DEGEN stated he returned to the scene of his attack later that night and found the tanker still burning.  He fired another electric torpedo which sank her.  He signaled news of this sinking to Germany and

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expected to receive some mention in a German High Command communiqué.  DEGEN, after referring to a 1940 edition of a British publication called "Merchant Ships" with which his boat was provided, concluded he had sunk the 12,000 ton three-masted GULF PRIDE.  (ONI Note:  This probably was the tanker WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER, 14,054 tons, which was attacked and hit by one torpedo June 28, 1216 hours, while in approximate position 35 01' N - 75 05' W., and was sunk later that night.  She was escorted by two Coast Guard cutters and three aircraft.  When the ship was abandoned she was on an even keel and not burning badly.  She was believed to be salvageable.  The Coast Guard escort stood by pending arrival of a salvage vessel, but the tanker sank at 2338, 11 hours after the first attack.)  This was DEGEN's last success.

        Meanwhile, according to prisoners, U-701 had had several aircraft alarms.  DEGEN stated that he was unsure of his executive officer, Oberleutnant (Lieutenant (j.g.)) JUNKER as an airplane lookout.  Early in the morning of 7 July he said he had to reprimand him sharply for not paying closer attention.  That afternoon, according to DEGEN, JUNKER's negligence caused the loss of the boat.

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Chapter VII

SINKING OF U-701

        In mid-afternoon of July 7, 1942, U-701 was cruising on the surface off Cape Hatteras.  DEGEN, JUNKER and BAZIES, together with the quartermaster, were on lookout for airplanes, as was their practice in dangerous waters.  Each watched a 90-degree are.  The day was perfectly clear and the sea smooth.  BAZIES and the quartermaster started to get back into the boat.  Suddenly JUNKER shouted:  "Airplane, there!"

        The plane, a U.S. Army bomber, was very near.  The men climbed into the boat and crash dived.  DEGEN stood in the conning tower beside JUNKER as they dived.  "You saw it too late," DEGEN said.  "Yes," JUNKER replied.

        The plane made two direct bomb hits when the boat was just below the surface.  The pressure hull was torn open aft and water poured in.  All instruments were smashed.  DEGEN ordered the tanks blown, but to no avail.  Within two minutes the control room was almost filled with water.  The boat listed 20 degrees to starboard at a depth of between 45 to 60 feet.

        Survivors have been able to give only incoherent accounts of the sinking.  One torpedo man stated he was asleep in the bow compartment at the time of the attack.  He said the main lighting failed, but the emergency lights were still on.  He made his way to the control room to ask whether they were to abandon ship.  He then struggled back to the bow compartment - perhaps to get lifesaving apparatus or some treasured personal possession - and when he again reached the control room water was waist deep.

        All the survivors are convinced that they were submerged when they got

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the conning tower open.  The hatch opened easily, DEGEN said.  Eighteen men escaped through the conning tower at that time, among them the captain.  According to a prisoner who claimed to have been among the last to leave, almost the entire crew eventually escaped from the boat.  However, as a sea was running, the various groups could not see each other in the water.

        Secret documents were left with the boat.  There was no time to explode scuttling charges even had that been necessary.  Apparently no attempt was made to send a radio signal reporting the sinking of the U-boat.

        DEGEN's own account of the subsequent 49 hours that he spent in the water before rescue, written in internment after he had been recovered, is appended to this report as ANNEX B.  Eighteen men who left the boat together had between them three escape lungs and one life preserver.  The Army bomber dropped two small life preservers to them.  Two of the men, boatswain's mate HANSEL and the midshipman, LANGE, struck out for shore, 30 miles distant, against the warning of the others.

        The following two days were a nightmare to the survivors.  The stronger saw their comrades drown one by one.  Some went mad before dying.  DEGEN had no life preserver or lung when he left the boat.  Part of the time his quartermaster, KUNERT, supported him in the water.  About 2100 coxswain ETZWEILER drowned.  He did not know how to swim.  The water was warm, but the sea had grown rougher.

        The following day, July 8, about noon, a Coast Guard ship passed slowly within 2,200 yards without hearing the cries of the survivors.  This shattered the courage of some of the men.  DAMROW and SCHMIDTMEYER became delirious.  One after another DAMROW, SCHMIDTMEYER, GRÜNDLER, BAHR, WEILAND and SCHULLER drowned.  BAHR, the engineer officer, went mad before going under.

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        Many planes passed overhead unseeing as the Gulf Stream carried the men northward.  That night BOSSE and FISCHER drowned.  Later the same night DEGEN's group came across LASKOWSKI wearing two escape lungs and comparatively fresh.  He reported that ten more of the crew had escaped through the conning tower, among them two officers and SELDTE, the only one of this group to be saved.

        During the night of July 8 - 9 DEGEN's group, by strange chance, found a floating lemon and cocoanut.  VAUPEL laboriously opened the cocoanut with the oxygen flask of his escape lung.  Each had a swallow of cocoanut milk, a bite of the meat and a suck of the lemon.  Before dawn LEU, MICKALEK and LASKOWSKI drowned.

        DEGEN later recalled that one of his men, before dying, said goodbye to him:  "I'm taking leave of you.  Please remember me to my comrades."  (Ich melde mich ab.  Grüssen Sie bitte meine Kameraden.)

        The next morning, July 9, a U.S. Navy blimp sighted the survivors and dropped a rubber boat and a rubber sack of provisions.  KUNERT, VAUPEL and GROOTHEER climbed on the boat.  Later they spotted their captain, unconscious, and pulled him aboard.

        At 1605 July 9, 49 hours after U-701 was sunk, a Coast Guard seaplane picked up the survivors, four of them from the raft and three others in the vicinity, separated from each other by distances up to five miles, at 36⁰ 18' N - 73⁰ 32' W., some 65 miles from the estimated position of the sinking.

When the survivors reached land, DEGEN related an obvious hallucination:  he said that during the night he had sat on shore washing oil from his body when a German-speaking man approached and told him that he had been mentioned in the German High Command communiqué of either June 29 or 30.

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Chapter VIII

DETAILS OF U-701

        Tonnage:  500

        Type:  VII C

        Conning Tower Device:  A red fish, described as a gurnard (Knorrhahn).  The Knorrhahn is the pennant device of the Warnemünde Rowing Club.  It was adopted by U-701 following a reception given by the rowing club while U-701 was in Warnemünde for torpedo practice.  Previously, a dagger had been suggested as a device.

        Building Yard:  Stülkenwerft, Hamburg

        Torpedo Tubes:  4 bow, 1 stern

        Torpedoes:  12 electric, 2 air.  The 12 electric torpedoes were stowed as follows:  4 in the bow tubes, 4 in the bilges in the bow compartment, 2 on the bow compartment floor plates, 1 in the stern tube, and 1 under the floor plates aft.  The 2 air torpedoes were stowed in containers fitted on the upper deck.  War heads for the air torpedoes were stowed within the boat and were not fitted until the torpedoes had been brought down from an upper deck container into the hull.  The work of bringing a torpedo from an upper deck container into the boat was said to be extremely difficult and dangerous.  It could be carried out only in a flat sea and required several hours.  No rails were fitted for maneuvering the torpedo from the upper deck container to the torpedo hatch forward as in the 740-ton class.  A prisoner whose action station was at the torpedo tubes stated that U-701's torpedoes were not marked with red and green bands.  No torpedoes ever were fired from U-701's stern tube except during exercises.

        Guns:  U-701 carried one 8.8 cm. gun mounted forward of the conning tower and one 2 cm. A/A/ gun mounted on the conning tower.

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        Ammunition:  SAP, HE and incendiary shells were carried.

        Diesel Engines:  Krupp

        Electric Motors:  Siemens-Schuckert

        R/DF Apparatus:  The captain stated that U-701 was not fitted with R/DF apparatus, but he agreed that it was possible that this was fitted to some of the new 740-ton U-boats.

        Mines:  U-701 carried no mines.

        S-Gear or German Asdic (QC Gear):  The captain would not admit that U-701 was fitted with S-Gear and stated that he would have had very little use for it.  He gave the impression that his opinion of this apparatus was not high.

        Sweep Eluding Apparatus (S-Gerät Vertilger):  The captain stated that U-701 did not carry an apparatus for creating an artificially disturbed patch of water with which an A/S vessel might maintain contact and enable a U-boat to elude an Asdic sweep.

        Patron Town:  U-701 had not been "adopted" by any German town.

        Field Post Number:  U-701's Field Post Number was M 44233.

        Escape Lungs:  These were made by the Dragerwerk, Lubeck, and were tested at these works on September 20, 1941.

        General:  The Stülkenwerft apparently was able to rectify, after U-701's first trial cruise, most of its construction errors, particularly the mistakes in electric wiring and the air and oil piping.  DEGEN wrote a letter to naval headquarters in Berlin, complaining about the faulty construction, and later possibly after his first war cruise, exchanged sharp words with one of the Stülkenwerft engineers.  DEGEN said the yards even forgot to put in some of the boat's instruments.

        Red sun glasses were issued to crew members.  DEGEN's which he bought

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himself, were green.

        In port the crew was divided into three watches.  As seems to be the custom, one watch stayed aboard while the other two had liberty.

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Chapter IX

OTHER U-BOATS

	1.  U-boats identified by number.
U-57	DEGEN confirmed that at one time Kapitänleutnant TOPP had commanded U-57.  From British sources it was already known that this U-boat was later sunk while under the command of Kapitänleutnant KORTH, was raised again and is now being used as a school boat.
U-84	For an incident concerning UPHOFF, who is believed to command U-84, see U-564 below.
U-96	It was stated that a U-boat formerly commanded by Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander) Heinrich LEHMANN-WILLENBROCK carried a green sailfish as conning tower device.  LEHMANN-WILLENBROCK is believed to have been in command of U-96.  According to statements of prisoners from U-94 and intercepted correspondence he has recently been made flotilla chief at a base not yet known.
	The following story, which apparently made the rounds of the U-boat arm, is believed to concern his boat:  A quartermaster, during trials in Danzig, was at the periscope with instructions to take a good look around and to warn the commander if anything approached.  Orders to submerge were carried out at great speed.  The quartermaster remained at the periscope, looking aft rather than forward.  As a result U-96 rammed something, possibly another boat, and sank.  It was stated definitely that this was not the first time that this boat had sunk.  The story is believed to be true, but its relation to U-96 must be taken

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